HENRICO, Va. – Every year NASCAR draws in tens of thousands of fans to the Richmond International Raceway.
This weekend race lovers will be eager to see if Kurt Busch can pull out a victory again this year, like he did last year.
Fans can expect some changes.
The Toyota owners 400 Sprint Cup is now at 1 p.m. on Sunday. In past years it has been held on Saturday night under the lights.
Ticket prices have been reduced.
“I was really surprised to see the reduction in the price of tickets; I think the way the economy has gone they have had to make some changes to make it more accessible and cut their costs and make it affordable for the average person," said one fan.
The other change is a physical change to the track; the backstretch grandstands are gone.
RIR officials chose to remove the remaining seating from the backstretch of the track, lowering seating capacity by several thousand seats. The move comes as the facility looks at ways to better serve their fans and improve the race day experience.
This will reduce RIR's capacity to around 60,000 seats, meaning Lane Stadium in Blacksburg is now the largest sporting venue in the Commonwealth.
Fans say it'll take some getting used to, but they're just pumped to see their favorite drivers hit this track.
Two years ago, RIR removed part of the seats in the backstretch grandstand and all the seats in turn three, creating a motorcoach VIP area, a walkway honoring former stars and events in the track's history, and an entertainment spot including a Ferris wheel and bar.
Based on the popularity of those additions, RIR officials got the go-ahead to start the next phase of a redevelopment project for the facility which will celebrate it's 70th birthday next year.
